POLITICO Playbook: Emergency declaration fallout

By early Friday afternoon, more than 50 House Democrats had asked to put their names on a measure to formally condemn President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration, according to an aide familiar with the planning. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY

THE LATEST ON THE WALL -- SARAH FERRIS: “Democrats vow full assault on Trump’s ‘power grab’”: “President Donald Trump’s attempt to circumvent Congress to fund his border wall has set off an intense scramble by Democratic leaders to rebuke the move — with efforts to halt his emergency declaration set to come in Congress and the courts.

“The Democratic-controlled House plans to pursue that two-track approach immediately. Plans for legislative action are already underway: By early Friday afternoon, more than 50 House Democrats had asked to put their names on a measure to formally condemn the move, according to an aide familiar with the planning.

“That first legislative step, which is expected within weeks, involves a vote to formally end the presidential emergency, which Democrats dubbed a ‘power grab.’ The move will force Republicans in both chambers to go on the record on the White House’s largely unprecedented move.” POLITICO

TICK TOCK -- “How President Trump came to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall,” by WaPo’s Matt Zapotosky and Josh Dawsey: “President Trump knew that lawmakers were unlikely to ever give him the billions of dollars he wanted to build a wall on the southern border, so in early 2018, he gave aides a directive: Find a way to do it without Congress.

“It was hardly an easy assignment. The White House had some flexibility to spend money the way it wanted, but could not move the necessary billions at will. Trump could declare a national emergency, but White House attorneys repeatedly warned him the risk of failure in court was high. On Friday, Trump did it anyway.” WaPo

THE LEGAL FIGHT -- “Trump Declared a Border Emergency. Let the Legal Battles Begin,” by NYT’s Simon Romero in Albuquerque: “Citing a dearth of evidence for a border crisis and fears over what is shaping into a colossal seizure of private property by the federal government, the Texas county of El Paso, together with human rights and pro-democracy groups, said on Friday that they planned to file a lawsuit almost immediately seeking to block the declaration.

“The groups argue that communities along the border would be harmed, not saved, by the construction of the wall, and that Mr. Trump had no legal basis for declaring an emergency. Theirs would be the first in an array of legal challenges already coalescing in an effort to thwart Mr. Trump’s plan.” NYT

-- “Trump border wall could bypass competitive bids under emergency declaration, experts say,” by WaPo’s Tracy Jan, Mark Berman and Andrew Ba Tran: “The most extreme scenario, contracting experts say, is one in which Trump flexes his presidential powers, channels his background as a real estate mogul, and selects a winner as if hosting ‘The Apprentice.’

“‘The president does have the prerogative to circumvent all of the competitive requirements by claiming a national emergency,’ said D. Kent Goodger, a retired federal contracting officer. ‘He can go right to a favored source to build a fence.’” WaPo

MICHAEL KRUSE in POLITICO Magazine,“Can Trump Spin a Wall From Nothing?: Powerful political forces make it much harder for him to employ his businessman’s flair for self-promotion under any circumstance.”

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THE NEW HOUSE MAJORITY -- “Dems prepare to force Trump to reveal private talks with Putin,” by Andrew Desiderio: “House Democrats are taking their first real steps to force President Donald Trump to divulge information about his private conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, setting up an extraordinary clash with the White House over Congress’ oversight authority.

“Rep. Adam Schiff, the Intelligence Committee chairman, and Rep. Eliot Engel, the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, told POLITICO they are actively consulting with House General Counsel Douglas Letter about the best way to legally compel the Trump administration to turn over documents or other information related to the president’s one-on-one discussions with the Russian leader.” POLITICO

ROGER STONE WATCH -- “Judge gags Roger Stone from Mueller comments around D.C. courthouse,” by Darren Samuelsohn: “Stone remains free to talk about Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation, just not in and around the Washington, D.C., courthouse where the longtime Donald Trump associate is fighting the special counsel’s charges he lied to Congress and obstructed its Russia investigation. That’s the end result from a four-page order issued Friday from a federal judge who had been considering a complete gag order on Stone in the wake of his full-on media blitz since his arrest last month in south Florida.

“Also Friday, Mueller’s team released a filing in the case that included a tantalizing nugget suggesting federal prosecutors might have obtained ‘Stone’s communications’ with WikiLeaks, the website that dumped stolen Democratic emails during the election. While the language was somewhat vague, legal watchers quickly noted that it might represent a jarring new revelation, as previously Stone had only conceded to trying to connect with WikiLeaks via intermediaries.” POLITICO

-- MORE FROM DARREN – “Mueller: Manafort deserves 19.5 to 24.5 years in prison for Virginia convictions”: “Robert Mueller’s team told a federal judge Friday that federal guidelines call for Paul Manafort to get as long as 24-and-a-half years in prison for his conviction last summer for financial malfeasance.

“The special counsel’s submission is the opening move in what will be a two-step sentencing process for the 69-year-old former Trump campaign chairman, who appears to be on track to spend the rest of his life in prison absent a presidential pardon.” POLITICO

-- LA TIMES’ DEL QUENTIN WILBER (@DelWilber): “FMR Acting AG Matthew Whitaker has NOT left the building. He is serving as a senior counselor in the office of Associate AG. There is no associate AG or acting associate AG. Principal Deputy Associate AG Jesse Panuccio remains in his post. He had served as acting associate AG.”

THE INVESTIGATIONS… NYT’S MAGGIE HABERMAN and SHARON LEFRANIERE: “New Jersey Attorney General Seeks Records From Trump Inaugural”: “New Jersey’s attorney general has stepped into the investigation of President Trump’s $107 million presidential inaugural fund, issuing an administrative subpoena for the fund’s financial records, including any that document fund-raising in the state. The action, taken last week by the state’s consumer protection office, came on the heels of a subpoena issued this month by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Federal investigators are examining whether all donations to the fund were reported, as required, and whether any foreigners illegally contributed money using Americans as straw donors.

“The New Jersey subpoena also demands records of any contributions made on behalf of foreigners, who are barred from contributing to inaugural funds, campaigns or political action committees in the United States. It also covers audits, contracts with vendors, documents related to the nonprofit organization’s tax status, and any records of advertisements, direct mailings or fund-raising events in New Jersey.” NYT

“In a Friday letter to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, Cummings says his committee has obtained new documents showing that Trump’s personal attorney Sheri Dillon and Stefan Passantino, a former White House official who now represents the Trump Organization, ‘may have provided false information’ when they were questioned by federal ethics officials about hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.” CNN

PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence lay flowers at a railway car once used to transport inmates at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp memorial on Friday in Oswiecim, Poland. | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

2020 WATCH -- “Harris hustles to lock down California en route to the nomination,” by Chris Cadelago: “Kamala Harris is building a wall around California. The Democratic senator has been activating her forces on the home front since launching her White House bid last month — cornering some of the state’s most prolific donors, locking down big endorsements and homing in on a statewide blueprint to rack up early delegates.

“California’s Super Tuesday primary is foundational to Harris’ plans to win the nomination. Her home-state advantage is an enormous asset, holding the promise of a huge haul of delegates early in the nomination fight. At the same time, a poor performance there could end her bid.” POLITICO …Cadelago on Gavin Newsom’s endorsement

-- “Beto O’Rourke in talks with strategists ahead of likely 2020 bid,” by David Siders: “Two Democratic campaign strategists told POLITICO on Friday that they are in discussions with O’Rourke and his team. One of the strategists described those conversations as moving to ‘an operational level’ after weeks of discussing 2020 in more theoretical terms. A source close to O’Rourke said Friday that the former Texas congressman is still considering a run and has not yet made a final decision.

“O’Rourke’s advisers had been speaking with Democratic strategists for months about a potential campaign, but only at a relatively abstract level. ... [A]fter a massive rally in his hometown of El Paso this week, O’Rourke is now becoming personally involved in discussions about the shape of a 2020 campaign, the strategists said.” POLITICO

-- “2020 Campaigns Are Prioritizing Sexual Harassment Policies In Response To #MeToo,” by BuzzFeed’s Tarini Parti: “President Donald Trump’s campaign is creating a telephone hotline for its staffers as one of the ways they can report any allegations of harassment or inappropriate behavior. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has hired a top staffer who is certified as a professional in human resources.

“That staffer got recertified, specifically to be up to date on best practices in sexual harassment trainings and policies, just before joining her 2020 team. And Sen. Cory Booker’s team is designing several mandatory employee trainings on different workplace issues.” BuzzFeed

FOR YOUR RADAR -- AP’S FRANCES D’EMILIO and NICOLE WINFIELD in Vatican City: “Vatican defrocks former U.S. cardinal McCarrick over sex abuse”: “Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said Saturday.

“McCarrick, 88, is the highest-ranking churchman to be laicized, as the process is called. It means he can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title.” AP

-- “No, You Can’t Ignore Email. It’s Rude,” by Adam Grant in the NYT: “When researchers compiled a huge database of the digital habits of teams at Microsoft, they found that the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails. Responding in a timely manner shows that you are conscientious — organized, dependable and hardworking. And that matters.” NYT

-- “How Student Debt Dragged A Generation Down — And What We Can Do About It,” by BuzzFeed’s Anne Helen Petersen: “A social and financial divide is forming — between those who have student debt, and those who do not — that will have ramifications for decades to come.” BuzzFeed (h/t Longreads.com)

-- “Preserving the Traces of Egypt’s Lost Jews,” by WSJ’s Lucette Lagnado, author of “The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit”: “Today, many younger Egyptians don’t know that, in the early 20th century, the country was home to some 80,000 Jews, who lived alongside Christians and Muslims in a flourishing multicultural society. ... Today, there are fewer than a dozen Jews living in Egypt, by some estimates.” WSJ ... $14.99 on Amazon

-- “A Judge on the Injustice of America’s Extreme Prison Sentences,” by Morris Hoffman in WSJ: “The duty to punish criminals comes with an obligation not to punish them more than they deserve.” WSJ

-- “AR Will Sparks the Next Big Tech Platform – Call It Mirrorworld,” by Kevin Kelly in Wired – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “Sweeping, hyperbolic take on what might follow when every physical object and place in the world has been mapped, scanned and tagged. The sum of all data will be a virtual ‘mirror’ world which is in most respects a functional substitute for the real world.” Wired

-- “What Happened When I Bought a House With Solar Panels,” by Esmé E. Deprez in Bloomberg Businessweek: “Third-party ownership and decades-long contracts can create real headaches.” Bloomberg Businessweek

-- “Let Me Tell You About My Friend Maria Butina — Who Might Be A Russian Spy,” by Elena Nicolaou in Refinery29: “In 2015, my friend and I went to Disney World. Three years later, she went on a solo trip to prison.” Refinery29 (h/t Longform.org)

-- “Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition,” by The Atlantic’s Ross Andersen – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “Jainism forbids violence towards humans and animals alike. The West would seem to have much to learn from Jainism; science is progressively recognising signs of conscious thought in more and more classes of animal. All mammals are now generally considered conscious; fish react to pain; insects make plans. The human fixation on language as a marker of thought seems increasingly arbitrary.” The Atlantic

-- “The Devil Drives Tesla,” by Alice Lloyd in American Consequences: “‘There’s a striking amount of ends-justify-the-means people at Tesla,’ [said one former Tesla communications employee]. ... At one point, he was asked to redirect blame for the Tesla Model S’s repeated, and virtually inextinguishable, battery fires away from the cars themselves – and heap scrutiny on the firefighters who’d rush to the scene of a flaming Tesla.” American Consequences

-- “The Tech Whiz Behind Vine and HQ Trivia Made Millions in His 20s. He Was Dead by 34,” by WSJ’s Shalini Ramachandran, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Yoree Koh: “Self-taught coder Colin Kroll shot to startup fame, allowing him to live life in a fast lane.” WSJ

PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED: Joe Biden on Friday having lunch at Cafe Milano ... Stacey Abrams yesterday at Hotel Dupont -- pic ... Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on a Southwest flight to Louisville from BWI ... Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on the 6 p.m. Delta flight 5936 from Reagan to LGA. She was the last to board and sat in back of coach, according to our tipster.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD –Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) and Alexandra Eber, an attorney, welcomed son Jordan. Pic

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): George Bamford, a member of the White House NSC staff (hat tip: Ed Cash)

“Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen at MackOnPolitics.com): Noah Rothman (“Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America”).

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About The Author : Jake Sherman

Jake Sherman is a senior writer for POLITICO and co-author of POLITICO’s Playbook, the nation's leading political newsletter. He is also the co-author of New York Times and national best seller, "The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump's America," which was published by Crown in 2019. Jake is an NBC and MSNBC political contributor.

Since 2009, Jake has chronicled all of the major legislative battles on Capitol Hill, and has also traveled the country to cover the battle for control of Congress.

Jake is a Connecticut native, and a graduate of The George Washington University — where he edited The GW Hatchet — and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Jake lives in Washington with his wife Irene and his son, and listens to an unhealthy amount of Grateful Dead and Phish.

About The Author : Anna Palmer

Anna Palmer is a senior Washington correspondent for POLITICO and co-author of POLITICO’s Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics. Anna covers the world of Congress and politics, and has successfully chronicled the business of Washington insiders for years. Her stories take readers behind the scenes for the biggest fights in Washington as well as the 2016 election.

She is also the co-author of New York Times and national best seller, "The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump's America," which was published by Crown in 2019.

In addition to Playbook, Anna is also editorial director of Women Rule, a POLITICO platform that is dedicated to expanding leadership opportunities for women at all stages of their career.

Prior to becoming POLITICO’s senior Washington correspondent, she was the co-author of the daily newsletter, POLITICO Influence, considered a must-read on K Street. Anna previously covered House leadership and lobbying as a staff writer for Roll Call. She got her start in Washington journalism as a lobbying business reporter for the industry newsletter Influence. She has also worked at Legal Times, where she covered the intersection of money and politics for the legal and lobbying industry, first as a staff writer and then as an editor.

A native of North Dakota, Anna is a graduate of St. Olaf College, where she was executive editor of the weekly campus newspaper, the Manitou Messenger. She lives in Washington, D.C.

About The Author : Daniel Lippman

Daniel Lippman is a reporter for POLITICO and a co-author of POLITICO's Playbook, the most indispensable morning newsletter for the biggest influencers in politics.

Before joining POLITICO, he was a fellow covering environmental news for E&E Publishing and a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. He has also interned for McClatchy Newspapers and Reuters. During a stint freelancing in 2013, he traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to cover the impact of the Syrian civil war for The Huffington Post and CNN.com.

He graduated from The Hotchkiss School in 2008 and from The George Washington University in 2012. Daniel hails from the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and enjoys playing tennis, seeing movies and trying out new restaurants in his free time.